Government and Politics

Just a day after the doors of a new sports center opened to students at Queens University of Charlotte, a state appeals court affirmed a zoning decision that allowed the center and another nearby structure to be built.

The city’s Economic Development Committee last week made a decision that increased the likelihood of an ambitious $300 million film studio being built on the East Side. The committee, which includes Mayor Pro Tem Patrick Cannon and City Council members Warren Cooksey, David Howard, LaWana Mayfield, and James Mitchell, will recommend on Aug. 26 that the full City Council vote to enter into a memorandum of understanding with Studio Charlotte Development, starting exclusive negotiations with the company.

The four candidates to replace District 7 Charlotte City Councilman Warren Cooksey are a financial planner, an economist with impressive academic bona fides, a sales consultant in workplace safety, and an outspoken Tea Party organizer. Here's what they have to say about development in the development rich district, which includes Ballantyne and other areas of southernmost Charlotte.

County election board members must work as colleagues and not political rivals, the new Republican chairman of the State Board of Elections said Wednesday as recent local board dust-ups have led to allegations of partisanship and voter suppression.

Land use attorneys across the state are hailing a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that greatly reduces the amount of leverage municipalities can wield in granting developers permits. A 5-4 majority in Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District held that the U.S. Constitution’s takings clause not only applies to cases in which a project is approved with “extortionate” conditions, but also to those denied when a developer refuses to agree to the coercive demands of the government.

For just less than a year, Denver-based Clarion & Associates has been studying the city’s zoning ordinance and meeting with local stakeholders to give city officials recommendations on a possible future change to the ordinance. Clarion on Monday released the findings of its assessment on the city’s website, complete with plenty of criticism on the score-old ordinance that city officials will certainly take into consideration when deciding if they will draft a new zoning ordinance.

Zoning committee member Karen Labovitz’s change of heart sends a petition that would put 324 apartments in the Brookline subdivision to the City Council with the committee’s stamp of approval. The petition was likely to fail on a 3-2 vote when member Emma Allen pled for more robust discussion.

Ask city planners, and they’ll likely say land-use regulation is an essential part of local government. Ask developers, and they’ll say those same regulations are unnecessary and can cause quite a headache.